5 Ways To Be Better On Social Media

We all know that social media is here to stay. What those of us who actually look at what’s being said and shared on social media see is a lot of people making mistakes that should be fairly easy to overcome. I use “fairly” because all of it takes some action, and some of that action takes longer than others, and some is more risky than others. And yet, if done correctly, or with the proper frame of mind, it all helps greatly.

I make videos to helpmy social media presence

With that said I’m giving 5 ways here, only because I’m hoping to keep it simple. It’s my intention in 2015 to talk more about social media theory, presence, networking and theory on this blog than anything else, and this is the first article of 2014, as I took a nice long break. So, here we go:

Gravatar – Gravatars have been out there for more than a decade now. Basically a gravatar is that little image that you see next to people’s blog comments; on other platforms it’s just called an image. Last April on a different blog I talked about 5 reasons you need a gravatar. The main reason is that your image helps people associate a face with the comment, and that identity is strong in making connections. People remember faces more than names, and images more than, well, nothing.

Promote others while promoting yourself – If I took the time to mention you while sharing something you did on this blog, would it make you feel pretty good? If so, think of how others might feel if you reference them here and there in your space, whether it’s on your blog or retweeting something they’ve shared on Twitter or just sharing something someone else has done on other social media platforms.

These don’t have to be famous people, and truthfully it’s probably better that it’s not them, at least most of the time. In that vein I’m going to promote a young man named William Haynes, who’s been putting together a wealth of topics on all sorts of both social media and being social in general that are pretty funny on his YouTube channel and deserves a bit more attention if you ask me. The kid makes me laugh. 🙂

Be present – If you want to be a presence via social media and be found by others who might need or enjoy what you have to share you actually have to be out there pressing the digital flesh.

I have 4 blogs (actually 5 again) and try to make sure I have at least one article on 3 of them weekly. I’m on social media every day, even on days I’m traveling, for at least an hour. I try to mix it up among all the social media sites I’m on and I try to be engaging with people; I may not be famous yet but I have people sometimes surprised to hear from me because they think I’m big; all that and a bag of chips gets me on almost no lists, ever. lol Still, there’s nothing else like that in the world.

Don’t look curmudgeonly -Trust me, I understand now that I’m in my mid 50’s. Society feels like it’s changed so drastically. People use a lot of foul language, don’t seem to know anything about history, and are always flitting around onto the “next big thing” (still have no idea what Tsu is; not interested) while the big thing is still pretty viable. If I wanted to I could spend entire weeks hating on every single blog post I come across; how well do you think that would work for me?

We all have to be ready to step back and see what others are doing, evaluate them for ourselves, and then decide what we want to do or say. Having an informed opinion on something you don’t like is way better than hating something just because it’s not what you used to like. Of course if you only spend time hating things you’ll look like a jaded old person, even if you’re young. So find good in things as well; trust me, there’s a lot more good than bad.

Be willing to be confronted, but not condemned – So many people play it safe; sigh… There’s nothing wrong with being cautious because you’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. I’m of the opinion that if you’ve given something a lot of thought and have something to say, even if you know there will be someone out there who won’t like it, say it anyway if it’s honest.

You might not like the concept of political correctness but it’ll help you get your message across way better when you’re not constantly defending yourself from negatives messages that you generated. People like knowing that others aren’t afraid to have an opinion that’s well reasoned, and that just might be your unique selling proposition that helps you get fans and customers.

This post has 18 comments

I feel you Mitch though I feel you do a great job staying on top of things. I look forward to reading your posts and interacting with you on Facebook and Twitter. And yes, I do feel honored when I see you commenting on 1KSmiles. Thank you Mitch.
One challenge is trying to be TOO many places. There are so many social media platforms and new ones coming out all the time. I feel it is important to concentrate on a few and get big on those. Spreading oneself too thin is always a danger.Troy S. recently posted…#858 Ice cream truck music is sweet

Thanks Troy; I like your 1ksmiles blog a lot, but need to get there more often. Truthfully, I need to figure out a balance between my time on social media and my consulting time when I’m in marketing mode. Sure, a lot of what I do on social media is a type of marketing, but I know my target market really isn’t going to find me there.

Hey Mitch, typo my friend, it’s actually 2015 or are you living in the past? 😀

My biggest problem these days is time. I don’t seem to allow myself enough for social media. Having said that I should try harder to include others in my posts occasionally.Peter recently posted…Special Sports Betting Offers

First, it wasn’t a typo since I wrote the article in 2014. 🙂 Course, since I re-released it now I guess I should change the date.

Second, time is always what we make of it. Even when I was traveling for work (which could happen again) I was making sure I had time to get on at least Facebook and Twitter just to stay in touch, and of course I kept up with blogging on at least two of my sites. Still, one has to stay with their priorities right?

The thing is you say that, but you’ve been blogging for all these years, even in places where people had no idea who you were. So, there had to be something there where you wanted to reach out; you just didn’t really want to be known, which is why you had that avatar for so long.

Hello Mitch, I am first time on your blog and yes, I read the comment policy.
Loved reading this blog post. Professionally I am an optimizer and just started my business. Social media has always been an interest for me. But being a recent entrepreneur, I am finding it really difficult to manage time to engage on social media regularly.
But I saw that being productive on different Q&A social media groups and communities helped me a lot to gain targeted followers, shares and comments on my posts.
Thanks for the share Mitch.

Greetings Soumya; welcome! The early forays into social media can be overwhelming, especially if one is hoping to make a dent for business reasons. Just do what you can but don’t forget that the business is the most important thing of all. Good luck with it.

Not really, it was just something that I knew I had to do. As you know I first started blogging because I wanted to improve the PR of my website. My first posts were as crappy as all hell. But in those early days it wasn’t about quality, it was about consistency.

Then I grew to love it. I learned the better the quality the more likely it would be noticed and shared. Even when I was commenting all over the place it had nothing to do with being social. It was all to do with getting noticed and to build my red, so to speak.Peter recently posted…Golf Hand Job Sports Joke Of The Week

I like all 5 of your ways to be better on social media but my favorites are the first 2.I think everyone should have a Gravatar and personally I think it should be a recent picture of themselves. Having some cartoon image or any other image really does not do a lot to help me get to know you. Like you said the Gravatar helps people connect. I have trouble connecting to a picture of a lake or mountain. Using a 20 or 30 year old picture maybe is not as bad but that is now who you are now.

Promoting other people is always a great thing to do now matter what platform you are on. The more you promote others the more others will promote you and you will make it where you want to be. It is all about helping others get where they want to be.Great post.

Thanks DeeAnn. I promote people all the time on both Twitter and G+, though Twitter is my preference. I also try to comment where I can because it not only encourages bloggers to keep writing, it brings benefits back my way also. And gravatars… that just seems like a no-brainer to me but so many people don’t even think about it.

Yeah, sites like Blogger Party, or whatever the name of those things were. I call those diary sites because most of the folks there vented their day or talked about their lives without everyone knowing who they were. That’s where we first met if you remember; we’ve actually known each other almost 10 years 🙂

Not Blogger Party, we met on Writingup, or something like that. Top bad that one went down hill too. There were a lot of good people on there. Lucky we host our own blogs isn’t it?Peter recently posted…Hot Female Athletes In Body Paint Hot Sports Babes

I disagree with your statement. If you have just 5 people you’re connected to then you’re influential… just maybe not as much as someone with more people, who all might be fake anyway.

Before you leave a reply, please see the comment policy if this is your first visit.
This blog doesn't accept keyword names, and the comment will be deleted if a real first name isn't put on first. Also, don't put subdomain links to other articles in the area where you put your website, as it will be removed and any CommentLuv you might have received from your link also won't show.